Black Buffalo Woman was Crazy Horse's love interest, whom he had known since childhood.
She was the daughter of Red Cloud's brother, and was the first cousin of He Dog and Red Heart Bull. Though she was married to a man named No Water, she married Crazy Horse in 1870 anyway as Lakota were allowed to divorce their husbands at any time for any reason. Despite this, No Water was enraged by his wife's elopement. She and Crazy Horse had gone on a buffalo hunt in the Slim Buttes area of what is today Northwestern South Dakota. When No Water arrived he looked for Crazy Horse's tent. When he found it he called out to Crazy Horse. When Crazy Horse answered he pointed a pistol at his heart. Crazy horse's cousin Touch The Clouds was sitting by the door and deflected the gun so it missed Crazy Horse's heart and hit him in the upper jaw instead. He took off and rode his horse to death as Crazy Horse's relatives pursued. However he made it back to his own camp and safety. The elders intervened in the feud and convinced Crazy Horse and No Water to stop, and ordered No Water to give Crazy Horse three horses as compensation for his wound. Black Buffalo Woman eventually returned to No Water, likely in order to avoid further conflict. She and No Water are known to have had three children together. As a result of this incident, Crazy Horse lost his title of Shirt Wearer (leader) among the Lakota but his shirt was never worn again.
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| Name | Black Buffalo Woman, |
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Famous quotes containing the words black, buffalo and/or woman:
“The black dog gets the food; the white dog gets the blame.”
—Chinese proverb.
“As I started with her out of the city warmly enveloped in buffalo furs, I could not but think how nice it would be to drive on and on, so that nobody should ever catch us.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)
“The love between man and woman is the greatest and most complete passion the world will ever see, because it is dual, because it is of two opposing kinds.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)